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United Boxing Day Buildup

There have been a number of reports through the season of player meetings to try and improve certain things at the club. Rooney admitted he is often in discussion with his teammates and Van Gaal and the players are desperate to stop the recent slide.

"I think as a group of players we know we can do better," he told Sky Sports News. "We regularly have meetings with myself and the other senior players in the squad and with the manager as well.

"We're all working together and come up with the best solution to try and to help us win football matches.

"It's not nice when you're getting criticised every week, every game. It's tough for the players to deal with.

"We're proud people, we play for Manchester United, it's hard to take and it's frustrating.

"The way the last few weeks have gone, it's not the way we want it to go. We're working hard to try and fix things and get them right."

Jose Mourinho will be a talking point on December 28

It will not be easy for United to quickly turn their fortunes around.

They travel to Stoke in the early kick-off on Boxing Day, and Mark Hughes' team dominated City at the Britannia Stadium recently.

Two days later Chelsea will be the visitors to Old Trafford, whose players looked liberated in their win over a poor Sunderland side following the sacking of Jose Mourinho.

A home game with Swansea on January 2 looks the most winnable of the three fixtures for Van Gaal and his team, but they will be keen to keep in touch with the pack at the top of the table.